Former Life Studio gun Annie Miller will have her sights set on the 2021 Netball World Youth Cup in Fiji after being named in Australia's preliminary, under-21 squad, just two days after retaining her spot in NSW's under-19 side.
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Netball Australia officially announced its 24-strong train-on squad on Thursday morning and while that group will evolve over the next 18 months or so, Miller's selection confirms she is firmly on the radar of national selectors.
The squad was named taking into account the Suncorp Super Netball and Deakin University Australian Netball League competitions, along with the 2019 National Netball Championships and training camps throughout the year too.
Miller, who's now playing for the Manly-Warringah Sapphires in the Netball NSW Premier League Under-23 competition, helped her NSW side to a silver medal at the national titles this year, and they'll be gunning for gold in the 2020 edition.
Miller is joined in the initial squad by five more stars from NSW while South Australia dominates the squad with eight guns named, not surprising considering they've won the last four under-19 national titles.
Australian coach Kylee Byrne said she's delighted with the spread of young talent coming through the pathway and is intrigued to see what they produce throughout a vigorous preparation for the 2021 tournament.
"The future of Australian netball is looking very bright with the calibre of athletes myself and the selectors were presented with during this process," she said.
"It's exciting to be kicking off our World Youth Cup campaign with such a strong squad and I'm really looking forward to working with this group over the next 19 months to bring home that cup in 2021."
It's not the first time Miller has earned an Australian nod, she was a part of the national under-17 side last year and played for the Australian Schoolgirls back in 2016.
Miller's squad will come together for the first time at the Australian Institute of Sport at Canberra on Friday, February 14, for an initial four-day camp that will officially kick-off the side's World Youth Cup campaign.
For those still eligible the next priority after that will be the National Netball Championships at Hobart in April, before a second squad selection in August, that group will represent Australia on tour of Fiji later in the year.
Australia will be gunning for their fifth World Youth Cup title after tasting success in 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2009, a victory would also end New Zealand's recent dominance, they've won the last two titles in 2013 and 2017.
- AUSTRALIA (preliminary squad): Annie Miller, Sophie Dwyer, Clare Longi, Matisse Letherbarrow, Matilda McDonell, Amy Sligar (NSW), Nyah Allen, Chelsea Blackman, Lucy Austin, Georgia Dent, Kimberley Hearnden, Georgie Horjus, Tayla Williams, Tyler Orr (South Australia), Sunday Aryang, Trinity Rond (Western Australia), Maggie Caris, Sacha McDonald, Hannah Mundy, Maddison Ridley, Allie Smith (Victoria), Macy Garnder, Martina Reekers, Sarahpheinna Woulf (Queensland)
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
